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New police order would bar Cleveland officers from shooting at or from moving vehicle

Chief McGrath

Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath holds findings from the Police Executive Research Forum that showed the department's use of force policies and procedures in place are "sound and comprehensive" at a Wednesday City Hall press conference.
(Cory Shaffer, Northeast Ohio Media Group)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A new order essentially bars Cleveland police from shooting at or from a moving vehicle, city officials announced Wednesday in what is the latest reform at a department where the use of force has been widely criticized.

The change, announced at a City Hall news conference, is
one of 26 recommended as part of a two-year review into the department's
use-of-force policies and practices by Washington, D.C.-based
Police Executive Research Forum, or PERF.

"We're just trying to do the right thing," Police Chief Michael McGrath told reporters, adding that the change had nothing to do with a controversial November 2012 police chase that ended with two unarmed suspects shot to death.

The PERF review is separate from an investigation launched in March by the U.S. Justice Department. That review is still underway and focusing on the training and supervision of officers and the measures in place to hold them accountable for misconduct.

Civil rights advocates had been calling for a federal investigation since 2011 after The Plain Dealer published a series of stories based
on hundreds of records dealing with officers using non-deadly force and
the administrative reviews that followed.

At the Wednesday news conference, McGrath said officers would be prohibited from firing from or at a vehicle "unless deadly force is being used against
the police officer or another person present by means other than the moving
vehicle.

"In other words, if you have a vehicle that is refusing to
stop, that is not justification for firing at that vehicle, period," McGrath
said.

The order mirrors those in place in cities
across the country, including Philadelphia, Miami and New York City, the chief said, and is
designed to protect officers as well as bystanders who might be struck by a
moving vehicle after the driver has been shot.

"If you have a mother and child out there and a vehicle is
being used as deadly force, are we not supposed to take action?" Follmer asked
after the announcement. "A vehicle can be used as deadly force, and we should
be able to use deadly force to stop a vehicle."

Overall, PERF found the city's procedures and policies governing the use of force by officers to be "sound and comprehensive."

McGrath said the department has implemented 25 of the 26
recommendations, the sole exception being a recommendation that would limit
officers' ability to fire a stun gun pressed against a suspect's body.

A Plain Dealer data analysis also found that between October 2005 and
March 2011, officers used electrical-shock devices to gain control of
struggling suspects 969 times. And during that period, McGrath and other
supervisors under his command found the use of a Taser to be
appropriate in all but five of the cases they reviewed.

Experts interviewed by the newspaper said that the 99.5 percent
clearance rate “strains credibility” and suggests a “rubber-stamp
process” of reviewing use-of-force cases.

The city paid PERF $40,000 to complete the study, which also found that use-of-force incidents have dramatically decreased since 2006.

In 2006, there were 17 deadly force incidents. In 2012,
there were 12. Uses of non-lethal force have declined from a total of 476 in
2006 to 202 in 2012, according to PERF findings.

McGrath said the findings signal the police department is
effectively adapting its policies to give officers the best training possible
to make split-second decisions on use of force.

"We know this isn't just a coincidence," McGrath said. "We
feel that if we train enough and try to put these guidelines in place (officers)
will make the right decision."

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